Seller Breach Of Contract.
This past June I entered into a contract to purchase a house. I was able to get my commitment for my loan. At this point everything on my part was ready. We were about to set a closing date for the house when we received a call from the Realtor that the sellers are pulling out of the deal. (The realtor is a friend of the seller). The reason was that the seller was suppose to have a job transfer to Florida however that didn't pan out. I fell bad for the seller however I have a 4.75 interest locked in until Sept 15 If I had to shop for a rate now I would be looking at
something around 6.4. I have also spent about $3000 on additional expenses not to mention the time I spent spent getting to this point. My lawyer has set a closing date for Sept 2 and wants us to attend the closing. HELP!!!! WHAT DO I DO.
Find another house, quick!
or
Sue for specific performance. (Atty, fees,lawsuit, time(
or
Settle with Seller for your damages.
dhar50,
"My lawyer has set a closing date for Sept 2 and wants us to attend the closing. HELP!!!! WHAT DO I DO?"
Let YOUR lawyer know (right away) what is happening..
...and I am sure, as pmatheson1 says, "Sue for specific performance"...
....and IMHO..
you will win (if what you are saying is 100% correct) ....
TheHouse (PER-CONTRACT) and or Damages!
....as always,
GoodInvesting, Rocky
Let us know what happened...
Are you going to get the house?
If you do have written P&S contract with that seller, you clearly have superior rights to the RE.
Here's the course of action you could take that would protect those rights and prevent the subsequent sale/deal from going through:
Have your lawyer prepare and record a Notice or Memo of Interest in that property. These don't have to set out specifics, and NO title insurance co. is going to insure the title when they find this recorded doc...so it puts you in the position of being a bulldozer in the middle of the road, and the defaulting seller has got to deal with you in order to proceed to do anything.
I'm in similar position. Seller was divorced when he signed contract with realtor, accepted our offer, everything was going ahead (our financing was beyond the deadline of Dec. 17 and he gave a verbal go ahead to realtor), then
he got married. Two days before closing, he said he refuses to close or let us walk through (for closing). We had to get a home equity loan on our current home and we have a right to rescind by midnight Jan. 12 (closing day). Contract ends Jan. 15. Anyone have ideas?
We talked to an attorney who said we can rescind the home equity, but if the guy decides to close anyway, we will be up a creek if we have rescinded.
Lis Pendens that title ASAP, suit for specific performance. This will keep him from selling to anyone. You better make dang sure your contract is valid if you do this and you know the routine, seek legal counsel don’t listen to some idiot like me on the internet.
Yeah, absolutely, and go file a memorandum of agreeement at the courthouse for the county in which the property exists.
As long as your contract is valid, people can't just pull out last minute because they get cold feet, or something better comes along. Hold their feet to the fire, this isn't a game.
If they try to sell to someone else for higher price, and your memo is filed, their attorney will see it as cloud on the title, then they have to come through you to clear that title and produce a quitclaim deed. Guess what, that's gonna cost them. You have the power now, and you can make them perform, or you can make them pay you $20k for all your hassle.
Don't feel bad or sorry for them. They don't feel sorry for you.
Best, Dave
Thank you! I believe what they want to do is turn around and sell it for a higher price to someone else (and cut the realtor out). It just isn't right. We will talk to our attorney Monday.
[quote]
On 2004-01-10 14:49, krmecklem wrote:
I'm in similar position. Seller was divorced when he signed contract with realtor, accepted our offer, everything was going ahead (our financing was beyond the deadline of Dec. 17 and he gave a verbal go ahead to realtor), then
You say that your financing contingency was past the deadline?
If so you should have had an extension in WRITING signed by buyers and seller agreeing to extend to a certain date
It may be that you are out of contract
it may already be too late. Just thinking out loud. But, if you had put up any earnest money and want to get it back. Almost all Realtors and state boards of realtors and atty's will have you sign a release document. In most release documents there is a hold harmless clause,where one agrees not to sue anyone for anything. Again not giving advice just thinking out loud.
Well, we signed the closing papers, and the husband signed the closing papers, but the wife refuses to sign the one paper she needs to sign (release of dower). Oh, the husband's attorney advised her to sign.[ Edited by krmecklem on Date 01/12/2004 ]
A contract is a contract. If you want to be nice and let him out you can, but you have no obligation to do so.
You may want to chat with them face to face and explain to him your costs (including opportunity costs). He may agree to pay you $10K to walk away. (that is if you're ok with it.)
Remember that YOU are in control here, not him. Have your attorney write a strongly worded letter that explains your intent and your course of action if he does not cooperate. If it's a good deal, you may want to sue if it comes down to that. Also, have your attorney look at your REPC and make sure that you're in the right and that there aren't any loopholes for him to jump through.
Our attorney talked to the wife, and she still does not intend to sign the paper. Looks like we will have to take it to court.
The wife signed, and the bank allowed the extension (since closing was Monday). Thank you all for your advice![ Edited by krmecklem on Date 01/15/2004 ]
Some new wife that guy got , heh? where does she get off? It wasn't her house to begin with. Maybe you should feel sorry for the guy after all!
I wonder why they call us the most litigious country in the world??
No question about the owners reneging without legal cause. I can't tell you how many times through the years that this has happened to me.
I'm into buying and selling Real Estate. Not litigating. I don't want to spend my life in attorneys offices and in courtrooms. If the weasle will reimburse me for all my expenses-I can go do some transactions and you know where they can go.
Mrshav,
Is it in your purchase contract that you produce a mortgage commitment letter by the first? Does such a letter represent the removal of a contingency (you must be able to obtain a loan to complete the purchase)?
Hmm well the contract says if I do not ger mortgage commitment by the 1st then buyer/seller agree to extend the date unless the seller cancels in writing. Actually he has not done this yet. But he has told his agent he wants to back out and she is trying to convince him not to do that.
Quote:
On 2005-03-14 23:10, edmeyer wrote:
Mrshav,
Is it in your purchase contract that you produce a mortgage commitment letter by the first? Does such a letter represent the removal of a contingency (you must be able to obtain a loan to complete the purchase)?
What is the status of your mortgage commitment? I assume it is imminent. You should be able to close withing days (or less) of loan approval. Are there any outstanding requests for information from the underwriters?
From your post I suspect that the seller is looking for any reason to pull out since the job transfer to Florida fell through. You said that his RE agent is encouraging seller not to pull out. Does she have a plan for where he will move if he sells?
My Mortgage commitment is all done. I verified that as of today .Actually it was done as on Jan 5 but they never sent the paperwork to my agent (grrrr). But yes the seller is looking for any reason whatsoever to back out. Today my agent said the house was withdrawn from the market..O boy! And I thought we were still negotiating all this... :-x